Iron Heart: Ace of Atlas
by Copperguy
Summary: Ozpin, feeling that they should continue on with the Vytal Festival after The Breach, has decided to enlist the help of students from the other academies in a joint operation to keep disaster from striking again. But will these new teams be enough to keep Cinder's plan, whatever it may be, from coming to fruition? And just who is this "Ace of Atlas"?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hello there! This is actually my first fic up on this site, so I'm open to any advice/criticisms that anyone may have for me. **

**Disclaimer: The world of RWBY and it's characters are property of Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth™. The only things that I own are the characters that I make up.**

For Ruby Rose, today was a good day.

Sure, a quarter of Vale was destroyed a week ago in a massive Grimm attack that she and her team almost died trying to contain. And Professor Ozpin was calling some big assembly about how more students from other schools were coming to Vale to help out with security before the Vytal Festival. And that Weiss was now trying to kick everyone's butts into high gear while going on and on about how they all had to "show school pride" and "how she wouldn't let her team embarrass her in front of _him_" whoever _he _was. And that because of Weiss's actions, Ruby no longer spent as much time eating cookies and tinkering with her precious scythe Crescent Rose, which really, **really** sucked. But Ruby wasn't going to let any of that get her down right now.

Why? Because right now, Ruby was skipping through the commercial district of Vale on her way to the airfield to catch a ride back to Beacon. In her arms was a brown paper bag filled to the brim with chocolate chip cookies from one of her top ten bakeries in the city, Granny's Bakery, and they were all for her.

The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the cookies were tasting delicious as she devoured them one by one. Yes, today truly was a good day.

Unfortunately, Ruby, blinded by her chocolate chip induced ecstasy, was unable to notice the taller individual who was also unaware of their current surroundings due to him walking with his eyes closed whilst listening to the music coming from his headphones. Alas, Ruby's happiness was never meant to last. The collision between the two was inevitable. By the time they realized what had happened, Ruby was sprawled on top of the young man with her bag of cookies lying in the street, crushed by one of the oncoming vehicles.

"Nooooo!" Ruby cried with one hand outstretched towards the miserable lump that was her bag of now-destroyed cookies. Today was officially **not **a good day; it was a bad day, a **very **bad day, today was the **worst day ever**!

Finally registering the young-man-who-she-was-currently-on-top-of's existence, Ruby realized the position she was in and quickly stood up, all the while glaring at him with eyes of rage that were second only to her sister Yang's whenever anyone damaged her hair.

This boy- no, this **monster**, was a being of pure evil. What kind of person do you have to be to just take that which is more sacred than all else in life and throw it in the street to be destroyed!? _A cookie-hating baby eater, that's who_, Ruby thought to herself as the young man in question stood up and dusted himself off.

He looked to be the same age as her friends. He was about a head taller than her with a dark olive complexion. He was wearing a black hooded vest with crimson accents around the zipper and pockets, leaving him sleeveless save for two black fingerless gloves. He wore black cargo pants whose ends were stuffed into his black boots that had more crimson accents, this time around the loopholes for the laces as well as the laces themselves. Black messy hair sat atop his head with a couple stray locks falling in front of his face. The one thing that caught Ruby's attention the most were his eyes. They were a vibrant shade of orange, almost golden if looked at in the right light, and they were staring right at her with a look of confusion.

"Uh, are you okay there?" he asked, confused as to why this younger girl was glaring at him as if he just kicked a puppy that was in his way. Ruby continued to stare at the boy in silent rage, still mentally condemning him for his crimes against humanity. "Riiiight," he said, drawing the syllable out as he looked around to see if there was any form of clue as to why this girl was giving him the death eye. It was when he saw the run over bag in the street that he had realized what he had done. "Oh man," he said in a whisper as he looked back to Ruby with face etched with regret, "I am so sorry, I really didn't see you there! It was an accident I swear! I mean, what kind of cookie-hating baby eater would I have to be to just knock a girl's bag of cookies into the street?"

Hearing him voice her thoughts, Ruby (reluctantly) allowed her anger to ebb away. Still, Yang always told her that 'when dealing with boys, you gotta be strong, go get what you want, don't wait for it!' and Ruby definitely wanted something. She wanted retribution for her lost babies. She had the moral high ground, even though she was also partially at fault for not paying attention to where she was going; he felt guilty, she could take advantage! At least, she thought she could until he spoke again.

"Hey, I know!" he says with his expression brightening, "Why don't I make it up to you? Those cookies are from Granny's Bakery, right? I was just headed there now to pick up something for my sister. If you want, you could come with me and I'll see what I can do about getting you some replacements?" Ruby's eyes practically glowed with excitement. This guy was no monster, he was a saint! A saint sent by Oum to help guide cookies into the promised land of Ruby's stomach!

Grinning with glee, Ruby temporarily forgot how to use words to agree with his proposition, instead opting to nod her head so quickly, it became a blur of black and red hair. The boy, seeing that Ruby was no longer glaring at him, released an audible sigh of relief as he allowed his shoulders to slump to their neutral position. "Good. That's good." he breathed, "For a second there I thought you were gonna try and kill me." Chuckling to himself, the boy put out his hand for Ruby to shake, "My name's Irven, by the way. What's yours?"

"My name's Ruby," she said in her usual lighthearted tone, putting her hand in his and shaking it, "it's good to know that I won't have to kill you, Irven."

* * *

><p>"So you're new to Vale?" Ruby asked Irven with a mouthful of cookie, her two new bags of fresh chocolate chip cookies in her arms as the duo made their way to through the streets of the commercial district.<p>

Irven looked down at the younger girl as he replied. "Technically, no. I've been to Vale before, but that was a long time ago, and I can't really remember it all that well. I was actually going to Granny's Bakery because I heard it was one of the best places in town and I thought I oughta get my little sister a treat. Sweet girl, if not a little overly curious. She's been here a lot recently with our father on business." The edges of his lips seemed to turn downward slightly at the mention of his father. Ruby, not being one to enjoy awkward silences, continued on with the conversation.

"So, are you here on a trip? Or are you here to stay? Because Oum knows that Beacon could use more sweet lovers, especially the kind that buy me an extra bag of cookies when they're feeling guilty."

"Oh, you're from Beacon?" Irven asked, letting himself move on to another topic. Ruby nodded, deciding to answer the two questions that she always knows comes after. "Don't you seem a little young, though? You're like what, fifteen?" Irven questioned as he turned toward her and leaned forward to get a better look at her. Ruby nodded again, feeling slightly annoyed by his joking tone, yet at the same time pleasantly surprised that he was able to guess her age on the first try. Irven stood up straight and crossed his arms over his chest when she answered him, a look of contentment etched across his features. "Well color me impressed, good for you, Ruby. You must be quite the prodigy to be at Beacon at so early an age."

Ruby scratched the back of her head and laughed weakly in embarrassment, "Well, you know, I was just in the right place at the right time I guess. I'm nothing special." She never was very good with compliments from people, she was shy. Sure she would get one from Jaune and Yang and the rest of her team every once in a while, but she was used to them, they were her friends. Irven was a total stranger- a stranger that bought her two baker's dozens of cookies, but still a stranger. Before she could say anything else though, Ruby's scroll got a message from Weiss: 'Ruby, where are you!? You're going to miss Professor Ozpin's assembly about the students from the other schools! I am not about to have you besmirch our team's reputation! If you don't get back here before the assembly, I'll give all of your "hidden" cookies to Nora!'

Subconsciously gripping her bags of cookies closer to her, Ruby, eyes filled with fear, dashed off to the airfield after saying goodbye to Irven. "I'll see you around," he called after her before lowering his voice, "Ruby Rose."

* * *

><p>After filing into the amphitheater with the main crowd of students, Ruby scanned the room, taking note of the newly placed seats lined up in rows in front of the main stage. After seeing the trademark white, sideways ponytail that she had come to lovehate towards the front of the new rows, she quickly made her way over to where the rest of her team was sitting. Weiss, who admittedly _had_ told Ruby earlier in the morning that they needed to be together for the assembly, was fuming by the time Ruby finally walked up to them. "Where _were_ you!?" She ground out, barely able to keep herself from yelling at her young leader, "I told you to get here _early_ so that we could all get good seats. You're lucky that I-" Blake cleared her throat to cut off Weiss.

"Aww, don't worry about it, Weiss! You said you wanted us here before the assembly started, and here we are, at the assembly, before it started." Yang interjected, smiling up at her little sister from her seat next to Blake. "Now come on," she said as she patted the empty spot between her and Weiss, "let's get this show on the road." Ruby smiled thankfully at her sister and took her seat as the lights in the amphitheater dimmed save for those directed at the stage, where Professor Ozpin stood with his trademark cane in one hand and his almost equally trademark cup of coffee in the other.

"Students of Vale, Atlas, Vacuo, and Mistral;" Ozpin began, "I stand before you all a week after a disaster has struck our city. One week ago today the city of Vale was invaded by an army of grimm after a major explosion opened up an underground cave for them to swarm through." He paused, looking around the room to see the range of emotions displayed by the various hunters in training. Anger, frustration, sadness, depression; all just small parts of the mural of emotions that he saw on their young faces. "I know, that all we feel as if there was more we could've done, more people we could've saved." He was right, at least, to the members of team RWBY. They all felt that way. They all felt that they had in some way failed their city, though they would never outwardly show it. "But the fact of the matter is, that we did what we could, when we could. We won and we repelled our would-be invaders. But that's not why I've called you all here today. I called you all here to inform you that the majority of students that did not arrive in the first wave of arrivals for the Vytal Festival are being brought in ahead of schedule to prevent this kind of disaster from happening again. We will all be working together from here on out to make sure that this year's festival will run without any further interruptions. While General Ironwood isn't here at the moment to help me transition our schools into this joint operation, I do have a representative here with me who can speak for him all the same."

With that, Ozpin stepped off the stage as four individuals wearing Atlesian Hunter Academy uniforms walked forth to take the stage. As they did so, parts of the crowd erupted into raucous cheering as people started to recognize the four onstage. One of the four walked out to stand in front of their team, causing the cheering to increase exponentially. Ruby, who had only been paying half attention to the Ozpin's speech, was startled when Weiss grabbed her arm, causing her to look at her partner who was watching the person at the front of the stage with the most wide-eyed, excited look she had ever seen come from the snow-headed heiress. Baffled that _anything_ could ever cause Weiss to look like _that_, Ruby looked towards the stage.

And that was when she saw him.

The young man on stage raised a hand to quiet the crowd, silencing them almost instantly as he did so.

He looked different from before, it was a wonder Ruby even recognized him at all. His skin was still the same dark olive color and he still stood at around Jaune's height. But his hair was no longer a messy mop of black, instead it had been slicked back with gel to look more professional. He no longer had the warm, expressive look on his face that he did before, instead it had been replaced with a cold, serious scowl that showed he wasn't intending to mess around. He wasn't wearing the same clothes as he did before, obviously, as they were now switched out with the same white uniform that all the Atlesian students wore. Again, the thing that caught Ruby's attention the most were his eyes. His eyes were ever the same vibrant golden orange as they were before, yet now they burned with a deadly seriousness that Ruby herself reserved only for her enemies. He was so different, yet he was definetly the same person.

"Thank you all for your attention," he began, "judging by some of your more… overzealous reactions, you already know who I am. For those of you that don't, my name is Irven Ironwood, and I have been put in charge of helping my fellow first years of Atlas to adjust to this joint operation."

For Ruby Rose, today was full of surprises.

**So this was a bit of a test run for me. Hopefully, the next chapter will be longer and we'll actually get to understand more of what's going on. Please, leave a review for me so I can get an idea of what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong. Again, criticism and advice are both equally welcome. Thank you!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: The world of RWBY and it's characters are property of Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth™. The only things that I own are the characters that I make up.**

So… Irven "Cookie-Buying-Buddy" is actually Irven "Cookie-Buying-Buddy" Ironwood. That's a surprise…

Ruby sat there in her seat between Weiss and Yang completely dumbstruck. _But__— wha— __**Ironwood**__? How did I not see it sooner!?_ For most anyone, especially hunters, Irven Ironwood and team LPIS (read lapis) were total celebrities. They were like, Achieve Men levels of famous; they were defenders of the North, protectors of justice. Sure Ruby and her team had defended Vale from an invasion of Grimm; but that was with the help of half the student body of Beacon and the Atlesian military. If the rumors and news stories were anything to go by, LPIS could've all of that themselves and still have been home in time for afternoon cookies! And for Ruby not to recognize their leader, the guy known as the Ace of Atlas, the **son** of General James Ironwood at first glance...

Irven's speech was drowned out by Ruby's ever increasing mental strain. _Some hunter I am, not recognizing __**the**__ Irven Ironwood. Heh, that's like only recognizing Pyrrha as the person on the front of the Pumpkin Pete's box. I mean, what kind of idiot does that?_ Three rows behind Ruby, Jaune sneezed quite audibly, with Pyrrha breaking her attention from team LPIS to say 'bless you' to him and ask if he was alright. _Now that I think about it though, I've only seen like one or two pictures of those guys, most of what I know about them is stuff I've read in magazines or heard from my friends back at Signal. _Ruby groaned out loud without any thought to those around her. _Well this is just great! I meet one of the most famous hunters-in-training and all I can do is barrel into him and make him buy me cookies! He must think I'm some kinda loser who lives under a rock. _Ruby slumped in her seat as she began to tune into her surroundings again.

"—and that's the basic rundown of what will be happening in the coming months. If you have any further questions about the plan, please do not hesitate to ask me, my teammates, or your professors." With that, Irven bowed and gave the stage to Professor Goodwitch.

"That concludes this assembly, please make your way out in an orderly fashion," she raised her voice to speak over the droves of people as they made their exits from the amphitheater, "also, teams RWBY and JNPR need to report to Professor Ozpin's office immediately; thank you."

* * *

><p>"So I wonder what Professor Ozpin wants to talk about," Jaune thought out loud to both his team and team RWBY as they walked through the halls of Beacon to Ozpin's office. "I mean, maybe it has something to do with last week's attack?"<p>

"I don't think so," Blake answered, "we already talked about that to him right after the attack, so I doubt that's what he wants to see us about." No one replied to Blake's response as they all seemed to have their minds focused on different matters altogether, though for most of them, they revolved around a single entity: team LPIS, and more specifically its leader, Irven Ironwood. Ruby was still beating herself up over the thought of not recognizing him right away and made a mental note to thank him and apologize the first chance she got. Weiss seemed to be on cloud nine, as Irven was an old friend of hers due to her father's connection with General Ironwood, and she was very excited to see him again after all this time to show how much she's improved with Myrtenaster. Ren was praying to Oum that Nora wouldn't do anything stupid in front of Professor Ozpin again; he still remembered the last time when Nora decided it was a good idea to replace all the instant coffee packets in the kitchen with hot cocoa mix. He shuddered just at the thought of both Professor Ozpin's _and _Professor Oobleck's manhunt for the culprit, who thankfully just happened to have put all the incriminating evidence in the locker of one Cardin Winchester, Oum rest his soul. Nora and Jaune, surprisingly were both thinking about methods to make friends with team LPIS if they ever got the chance. While Jaune thought about how nice it would be to have another guy friend to help balance out all the estrogen in his life, Nora thought about how team LPIS could all use a good explosion. You know, because they looked so serious and explosions make everything better, at least in Nora's personal experience they did. Pyrrha was thinking back to her time back home in Mistral, before coming to Beacon. While she was studying at Sanctum, Irven had come as an exchange student for three weeks while his father dealt with some political business. While he was there, he and Pyrrha challenged each other to ten separate duels, with both of them winning back and forth. They were still tied five to five, a fact which Pyrrha hoped to remedy during the Vytal Festival's tournament. Yang herself couldn't care less about what was going on, instead thinking about the dream she had with that Raven woman and what it all meant.

Blake, however, seemed… fearful, though you would never be able to tell just by looking at her. The reason for this was that, like Pyrrha, Blake had met Irven before. But unlike Pyrrha, they had not met under such friendly terms. It had been almost a year now, a few months before she left the White Fang, since that dreaded night. She visibly tensed as she played out the events in her mind…

* * *

><p>Blake and Adam had been tasked with infiltrating a warehouse in the shipyards of the Atlesian city of Clymene. Within the snow covered building, a weapon thought to be a prototype Aura Weapon was being constructed by Schnee Dust Company and hidden from the public eye until it was to be put through mass production.<p>

The White Fang, feeling that that kind of weapon could be used to subjugate faunuskind and once again put their people into a life of servitude and slavery, sent a team to investigate and if possible steal or destroy the Aura Weapon. When the first three squads of White Fang operatives didn't respond after being sent into the warehouse half an hour ago, Adam and Blake were forced to take action.

As they made their way through the snow covered shipyards, the only sound that could be heard was that of Blake and Adam's boots crunching through the snow. Because Atlas was located to the far north, on the continent known as Mantle, the weather was constantly at freezing levels. Due to this, Blake and Adam had to don heavier clothing in order to stave off the cold. Adam dressed very much reminiscent of his usual attire, only foregoing his signature trenchcoat for a thicker, black wool overcoat that sported his blood red 'Wilt' emblem along his right arm. Blake also wore a heavy coat which a white parka with black fur lining the inside, as well as a black scarf with her own symbol emblazoned in white on one of the two ends that flowed behind her. Both of them were on full alert in case of a surprise attack as they looked around. Oddly enough, however, was that there was nobody to be found, not even any random security guards or stray shipwrights. Sure, it was the middle of the night, but the whole place seemed to be abandoned. Even with her enhanced senses, Blake could neither see nor hear anything as snow drifted lightly to the ground around her and Adam. It felt as if the whole place had been sealed off by an invisible force, a thought that Blake did not wish to entertain. "Adam—"

"I feel it too," he interjected, his body tense as he tried to look for anyplace a group of people could hide. He checked his scroll once again to confirm the location of the missing White Fang operatives. It showed that they were still by the warehouse where the Aura Weapon was supposed to be hidden, but that instead of being spread out into the three groups of four that they had initially set out in, they were all clustered together towards the entrance. Adam continued to walk forward towards their destination while looking down at his scroll to watch for any sudden movements or developments until a sharp gasp from Blake caused him to look forward.

There, in front of them was the warehouse that contained the Prototype Aura Weapon and in front of the closed doors, tied together on the ground unconscious, were the missing White Fang operatives.

"I've been waiting for you," a voice called out, causing Blake and Adam to look around frantically, searching for the ones who could've done this. "So," the voice began again, "the 'Mad Bull' and the 'Black Cat' decide to finally make their appearance. You know, I wasn't expecting you around here after that stunt the two of you pulled a few months back in Lapetus." Finally pinpointing the source of the voice, Blake and Adam looked up, to the roof of the warehouse, where they saw a figure standing with his arms crossed over his chest, silhouetted against the shattered moon behind him, looking down at them with burning golden eyes. "I've been wanting to speak to you for a while now," he said as he hopped down from the roof, landing on his feet as the snow crunched beneath his boots. No longer with the harsh light of the shattered moon behind him, Blake wondered how he was not freezing to death in this weather as he a black and crimson hooded vest, the hood of which was pulled up over his head, as well as black cargo pants that were stuffed into black combat boots with crimson accents. On his arms were two black, long, fingerless gloves that went up to his elbow and had pearlescent white metal plates strapped to the backs of the hands and the outsides of the forearms. The plates on the back of his hands had the same symbol engraved on them: a lone wisp with a chain encircling it, like a ring around a planet, both the same burning golden color as his eyes.

"Oh?" Adam asked, as he gripped the hilt of his sword, Wilt, "And what would, the Illustrious young prodigy, Irven Ironwood, want to talk to us about?" At the mention of his name, Blake tensed, as she gripped on her own weapon Gambol Shroud, which was currently resting on her back. Blake knew that name as well as the powerful individual associated with it. If he was really who Adam said he was, then she couldn't allow herself to hold back for even a moment if push came to shove.

Irven grimaced at the mention of his own name, frowning at the two as they readied their weapons while he made no signs of hostility. _Why is it that every time one of the bad guys mentions my name, everyone jumps the gun and gets ready for a fight? I mean, sure most of the time I charge in head first, but this time I explicitly told them that I just wanted to talk!_ He sighed, "I literally **just** told you I wanted to **talk** to you guys. Since when did that become code for, 'I wish to kick your butt, let's fight!'?" Blake and Adam made no moves to relax their stances. Irven sighed again. "Look, I just wanted to tell you that I know why you're here, I beat it out of your buddies. I also wanted to tell you that your mission is all just a big fat wild goose chase. There's no such thing as your ' Prototype Aura Weapon', at least not here there isn't. And I should know, I've been looking all over these shipyards for any hint of that thing's existence for the past half hour!"

The duo staggered in surprise and confusion at Irven's words. The Aura Weapon didn't exist!? That's couldn't have been possible, they're information was spot on; the White Fang had been monitoring the place for weeks! "That can't be true!" exclaimed Blake, "We've seen Schnee scientists coming in and out of this place for weeks!"

"Exactly," Adam added, "and I bet that you're just trying to lead us astray. If you're so sure that there's no weapon in there, then let us look for ourselves." Adam began to make his way towards the doors of the warehouse when Irven stepped out and into his way.

"I can't let you do that," he said quietly, eyes set in cold determination. "Seeing as how nobody's been seriously hurt, I'm giving you the chance to walk away right now. You can take your comrades and go." When Adam made no signs of stopping, Irven spoke again with an almost pleading tone. "I understand your plight, I really do, but I can't let you in there! What's in that building has nothing to do with the faunus, I swear!" Irven sighed as Adam continued to walk forward and he took up a high kickboxing stance, with his forward knee bent leaving the ball of his foot resting against the ground, "I will fight you if I have to."

This caused Adam to stop and stare at Irven. "I was hoping you'd say that," he smirked as he also took up his fighting stance, his finger on the trigger of his sheath, Blush, ready to fire Wilt out at any moment. "Killing you would show the world just how dangerous the White Fang really is."

Blake just stood there, unsure of what to do. Irven had given them the chance to leave with their missing comrades and cut their losses. They would be able to go home, label the mission as a false lead, and be on their way with no one getting hurt. _But what in Remnant is in that warehouse? What is he so adamant about hiding from us? What could be so important, that he, someone who was willing to let us go just seconds before, would fight us just to keep us away?_ Blake had to know, and so she drew Gambol Shroud from her back and split it into its katana and cleaver combo.

All three waited there, staring at one another for what seemed like hours, as snow slowly drifted to the ground around them. Each combatant knowing that the moment any of them made a move, none of them would be able to walk away.

As if it were rehearsed, Adam and Blake dashed forward at Irven and attacked him on both sides. Adam went high as Blake went low, and the two attacked with their weapons at the same time. Irven quickly rolled backwards into a back handspring to dodge the two attacks, unaware of the third coming down from above. As Blake's clone that had charged in with Adam disappeared, Irven realized his mistake. He looked upwards as the real Blake descended from above, her cleaver and katana held high as she brought them down for an overhead attack. Pivoting on his right foot backwards, he sidestepped the attack and brought his left knee upwards to stomach, lifting her slightly into the air by the sheer speed of the attack. He then quickly spun around her, capitalizing on her stunned state and drove his elbow into her spine, sending her flying into the large metal doors of the warehouse leaving her crumpled form on the ground in front of it. Adam, with Wilt resheathed, charged forward again and pulled the trigger of Blush, causing his blade to launch out in a blindingly fast cut that was too fast for Irven to dodge. While he wasn't fast enough to dodge the blow, Irven was, however, able to bring his right arm up, causing the blade to stop against the metal plate on his forearm. "Not bad," Adam grunted as he jumped back and away from Irven's left roundhouse kick, "but I guess I shouldn't expect so little from such a renowned fighter." Irven decided to use this time to take the offensive as he charged forward, throwing out a right jab, that Adam dodged, and followed it up with a left hook, causing Adam to duck underneath it, leaving him exposed to Irven's right knee that came at his face. Adam reacted quickly and brought up Wilt and Blush in front of him to block the attack, the force of which caused him to skid back a few feet after it connected.

"I guess I shouldn't have expected any less either, Mad Bull." Irven charged in again as the two met in a mutual melee, trading blows with one another. Neither gained nor lost ground as they fought. Where Irven would throw out a cross, Adam would parry it with Blush and riposte with Wilt, a technique that Irven would reciprocate as he would glance the blade off the back of his hand and throw forward his opposite elbow, causing Adam to step back. Adam would then re sheathe his sword and draw it again in a powerful attack that would cause Irven to step back, giving Adam back his lost footing. Their fight continued back and forth like this as Blake slowly got up from her crumpled state in front of the small dent she made in the warehouse's massive door. Shaking away the stars in her vision and allowing her aura to heal the aching in her back, she shifted Gambol Shroud into its pistol form and threw it forward, firing the gun to give a boost in velocity. Irven and Adam broke from their deadlock just in time for Gambol Shroud to pass between them. Blake pulled hard on the ribbon attached to the trigger of her gun, using the recoil to force it to change direction and attack Irven, who quickly ducked underneath it. Blake continued her midrange onslaught as she swung Gambol Shroud on its ribbon and threw it out at Irven again and again, forcing him to dodge her attacks. Adam joined in from a distance as he fired repeated shots at Irven from Blush, putting more pressure on the golden-eyed youth.

Eventually, Irven's defense was penetrated as a bullet from Adam grazed along his calf, causing him to stumble and get his right arm tied up in the ribbon of Gambol Shroud. "I've had enough!" Irven bellowed as a golden orange aura flared up around him. Pulling hard with his right arm, Irven pulled Blake over to him and swung her around and into Adam as he continued to swing both of them into and through the large door of the warehouse.

Picking themselves up, they looked around the large room. It was much warmer in there as they were no longer out in the snow, and it was pitch black in there, save for the eerie green glow coming from a large glass tank in the middle of the room. While the tank itself was relatively uninteresting, what was inside of it really drew the eye. Inside the tank, suspended in the green liquid and hooked up to various cables that came from the top and the bottom of the tank, was a girl. She looked to be unconscious as she floated there. She had to be no older than Blake, with pale, freckled skin and short, orange hair that flowed freely in the liquid. She wore a medical gown, with the opening in the back being where all the cables and cords were hooked up into. Blake walked up to the tank that the girl was in and put her hand up against the glass. "Who, or what, is sh—"

"Don't touch her!" Blake and Adam whipped around to see Irven standing at the entrance that they had created when he threw both of them into the door. His hood had fallen and his hair was shadowing his eyes. "I told you to leave," he said with quiet fury as he visibly shook, "I told you to stay away damn it!" Blake and Adam took up their fighting stances again as Irven's aura swirled around him in a violent tornado of energy and snow, yet he made no move to do so too as ethereal golden chains the same color as his aura appeared around his arms, legs, torso, and head; each individually wrapped and shining with the same intensity as his aura. "I won't let you hurt her," he said as he took hold of the chains around his right arm, "I **will** protect her!"

As he said that, Irven pulled on the chains, causing them to shatter around his right arm, freeing it from its ghostly bindings. The last thing Blake remembered from that night was a blinding light that enveloped the entire inside of the building, and an immense pain flooding throughout her body before she blacked out. The closest thing she can remember to after that was waking up in the infirmary of the White Fang base in Clymene, only miles away from the shipyards where they fought.

* * *

><p>"Hey Blakey, you still in there?" Yang said as she rapped her knuckles on Blake's forehead, knocking her out of her memories. She looked around to see her team and team JNPR looking worriedly at her.<p>

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied whilst shaking her head free of that night, "what's up? You all look so worried. Did someone die when I wasn't looking or something?"

"Not exactly," Weiss said slowly, "it's just that we kind of lost you there for a bit. I mean the least you can do is acknowledge when somebody's talking to you!" Blake apologized sheepishly as Weiss rolled her eyes at her teammate's antics. "Whatever."

Jaune cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Aaaanyway," he drawled, "we're all here now, so let's go finally see what Professor Ozpin wants to talk about." Everyone nodded in agreement and stepped filed into the room to see Ozpin sitting at his desk with his elbows resting on the smooth surface and his fingers folded in front of his face. To the side of the room stood three individuals, two of which were wearing Atlesian Hunter Academy uniforms with the third wearing a black cloak that obscured her face and most of her small frame. One of the people who were standing was guy that was slightly taller than average, but with more of a slim build. He had light skin and black hair that was slicked back like Irven's, but was parted on one side. His eyes were black, making it seem as though he had large irises. The other person was a girl that was around Yang's height with an average build. She had long, pale purple hair that was tied into twintails that hung down to her waist and her eyes were the same color as her hair. Sitting in a chair in front of Ozpin's desk, turning around to see who the new arrivals were, was Irven Ironwood in his uniform and his hair slicked back. His expression, which was earlier cold and hard, was now warm and friendly.

"It's good to see you've finally arrived," Ozpin said as he stood up from his chair and walked towards the newcomers. "Team LPIS," he said as he gestured to Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren, "meet team JNPR led by Jaune Arc."

"Hello," Jaune said awkwardly, still confused about why people were so excited to see these guys at the assembly. Irven walked forward to shake Jaune's hand.

"Pleasure to meet you," he said as he released his hand and turned his attention to Pyrrha, "Also, I hope you've been practicing, Pyrrha, as I have no intention of losing to you this time around." Pyrrha only smirked in reply to his challenge.

Ozpin continued on with the introductions. "And this," he said as he motioned his cane towards Ruby's team, "is team RWBY, led by—"

"Ruby!" exclaimed an oddly familiar voice. The cloaked girl dashed over to Ruby and brought her into a bonecrushing hug, which was also familiar, albeit in a quite painful way. "Oh, it's so good to see you again my friend!"

_Wait a minute, _thought Ruby as she tried to put the pieces together before her lungs ran out of air. "Penny?" she choked out, before the cloaked person let go of Ruby in order to remove her disguise. Penny looked the same as always, with her curled, orange hair and her vibrant green eyes. Unlike the other Atlas students, Penny wore her casual clothing, the only difference being that her overalls were the same dull gray as the vests of the Atlesian uniforms.

"Sorry about the disguise," she said apologetically, "but Irven said that it would be fun if I surprised you." The other two members of LPIS looked over at Irven with deadpan expressions as he looked in any direction but theirs and tried to whistle innocently. Jaune, Yang, and Nora tried to stifle their laughter to varying degrees of success, with Jaune and Yang quietly snickering to themselves and Nora outright laughing. Ren, Pyrrha, and Weiss all shook their heads disapprovingly at the foolishness of their teammates. Blake cautiously examined Irven, wondering if this was really the same burning-eyed person that she fought in Clymene a year ago.

Ruby was, admittedly, confused. But in her defense, today was really laying it on thick with the curveballs. _Wait a minute, again,_ Ruby thought as she tried, once again, to put the pieces together. _Penny and Irven are teammates, and Irven told Penny to surprise me by hiding her identity, which means that Irven knew about who I was before we met, which means I now feel __**really **__bad for not recognizing him at first!_ Ruby groaned audibly and sagged her shoulders as another wave of guilt hit her.

Today was seriously not her day!

**AN: So, for anyone wondering where the names of the cities came from and why I chose them, the names Lapetus and Clymene are the names of Atlas's parents in mythology. Seeing as how the names were connected to his mythology, I thought they would fit well as cities. Also, for what Irven called Blake and Adam, I thought about how there wouldn't be any record of their identities, so I gave them codenames that would fit with their descriptions (kind of like how Vash the Stampede was sometimes called "The Humanoid Typhoon" in Trigun), thus the names "Mad Bull" because I'm pretty sure Adam is a bull faunus, and "Black Cat" because Blake's a... well... You get the picture! **

**As always, Reviews are greatly appreciated. Whether it be criticism or advice, I'll take whatever you can give! **


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